We departed from Alligator River Marina this morning at 0700 and headed out to the ICW. Today we had to cross Albemarle Sound and the winds were kicking were reading at 20 knots plus with gusts to over 25 knots out of the NNW. Exiting the mouth of the Alligator River the seas were 1-2 feet. Soon as we cleared the bars at the mouth of the River we started getting steady 3-4 footers with some bigger rogue waves. It was NASTY!

We had three options…
1) turn around and go back to the marina… NOT…
2) go straight across the Albemarle to the Pasquotank River in quartering seas and then the Dismal Swap Route…
3) go beam across the Albemarle to the North River and the Virginia Cut and Currituck sound.
We opted for option 2 and the smoother ride across the Albemarle. It would also be shorter time in the heavier seas compared to option 3. Option 3 also had Currituck Sound in the route. It can be nasty with winds like we had today.

We were soon across the Albemarle and heading up the Pasquotank River toward Elizabeth City. This route would have doing the Dismal Swamp Canal. Really don’t care for it as we can’t make much more than 4 knots for about 20 miles. We had two locks… well one today… The South Mills Lock and Bridge just north of the lock. The same man operates the lock and then drives to the bridge to open it for you. We reached it at it’s 1330 locking and the next lock 22 miles away has its last locking at 1530… 22 statue miles in two hours… would have to go much faster than SAILS is capable of and the entire canal is a NO WAKE ZONE.

The other very disturbing thing abut the Dismal Swamp is the deadwood on the bottom… all the way through you are continually hearing these horrible sounding thuds on the hull. We have had issues with it damaging our props but today no damage just the horrible noises. Although it is very beautiful.

We arrived to our destination for the night at 1755 alongside a bulkhead with just the right amount of room for us to dock. There used to be a Mexican restaurant here but it appears to have gone out of business. Susan came back from walking Beecha and spied a Hardees across the street and is now craving some fast food from Hardees for dinner.

I wish we could have continued on to Portsmouth area but we are trapped in the Dismal Swamp Canal at Deep Creek. The last bridge and lock opening was at 1530 and we can’t even leave early as the first bridge and locking is at 0830.

Our position tonight is N36°44.428’, W076°20.698’. We traveled today for 11 covering 64.5 nautical miles averaging 5.9 knots.